Mr. Smallwood is an associate in the Corporate Department of Morrison & Foerster’s Tokyo Office. Mr. Smallwood’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions transactions, covering a broad range of strategic transactions in the financial, technology and biotech and pharmaceuticals industries.

Mr. Smallwood’s transactions include the representation of:

• Ricoh in its $1.6 billion acquisition of IKON Office Solutions, the world’s largest independent channel for document management systems.
• Toshiba Power Systems in its $300 million venture with Princeton, NJ-based NRG Energy Inc. The joint venture will combine NRG’s in-process permits for two major nuclear power facilities in South Texas, with $300 million in capital contributions from Toshiba, and will serve as the parties’ primary vehicle to develop nuclear power projects in North America based on Toshiba’s “ABWR” (advanced boiling water reactor) design.
• GCA and Greenhill, as joint financial advisors to Nikko Cordial’s board of directors, in connection with Citigroup's $4.6 billion offer for the remaining publicly-held shares of Nikko Cordial. This transaction completes the largest ever foreign acquisition of a Japanese company, and the first time that shares of a foreign company were offered in a "kabushiki kokan" (statutory share exchange) transaction in Japan.
• GCA Holdings Corporation, the listed Tokyo M&A advisory firm, in its $780 million “merger of equals” combination with Savvian, LLC, the US-based investment bank. This innovative transaction marked the first use of Japan’s “kabushiki iten” (share transfer) transaction structure in a combination with a US company.
• TDK in the sale of its recording media business (including branded tape, DVD, CD and similar products) to Imation for $261 million in Imation shares and cash.
• Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd., a top 10 supplier of semiconductor fabrication equipment, in the creation of a joint venture company with Applied Materials, Inc. The new company, “SOKUDO Co., Ltd.”, will combine Dainippon Screen's existing business in coater/developer track equipment for semiconductor manufacturing with Applied Materials' contribution of technology, key development employees and 16.6 billion yen (approximately US$150 million).
• Recruit, Japan’s leading human resources company, in its $110 million investment in NASDAQ-listed 51job, China’s leading provider of employment information services. The transaction is Recruit’s first substantial overseas investment and will ultimately result in Recruit becoming 51job’s largest shareholder.
• ACCESS in its acquisition of IP Infusion Inc., a leading provider of network software for mobile phone applications.
• Rakuten in its purchase of Linkshare Corporation, a leader in the US online affiliate marketing business, for $425 million. This was Rakuten’s first U.S. acquisition.
• SOFTBANK in connection with Yahoo!’s $1 billion investment in SOFTBANK’s China affiliates, Alibaba and Tao Bao. In the transaction, Yahoo! paid $1 billion and contributed its existing China business to Alibaba in return for a 40% stake in the newly combined Alibaba/Tao Bao entity. SOFTBANK remains the entity’s second largest shareholder with a 30% stake.

Mr. Smallwood earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 2000, where he was Articles Editor of the Michigan Journal of International Law. He received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994.

Prior to joining to Morrison & Foerster in 2005, Mr. Smallwood was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Los Angeles and Tokyo. Mr. Smallwood is a member of the California Bar and the American Bar Association.